Mark Williams (politician)
Mark Fraser Williams is a British Welsh Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of Parliament for the Ceredigion constituency, a seat he gained from Plaid Cymru in 2005 and then lost again to Ben Lake of Plaid Cymru in the 2017 General Election. He sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and in 2006 he became a Shadow Minister for Wales under Menzies Campbell.
Mark Williams is a graduate of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Plymouth, and was Deputy Headteacher of a school in Llangorse near Brecon before becoming an MP.
Early life
Mark Williams was born in Hertfordshire on 24 March 1966. His mother worked as a classroom assistant, and his father ran a printing business. He has two older sisters. He attended the local village primary school and then Richard Hale Secondary School, Hertford, from where he moved on to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1984 to study politics. It was at school during the days of the SDP-Liberal Alliance that he become involved in Liberal politics, later saying:Political career
Within a week of arriving in Aberystwyth, Williams became secretary of the student group and had met local Liberal MP Geraint Howells. After graduating, he became a part-time researcher to the Liberal Peers in the House of Lords, but was determined to stay in Ceredigion and spent half the week and all Parliamentary holidays as assistant to Geraint Howells in Ceredigion until Howells lost Ceredigion in the 1992 General Election.He then returned to student life at the teacher training college in Exmouth, part of the University of Plymouth. After securing this qualification he taught in primary schools in Penzance and Barnstaple before becoming a Deputy Head teacher in Llangors School, Powys, in 2000. During this time Williams fought Monmouth at the 1997 general election, finishing third.
In February 2000, after a spell as President of Ceredigion Liberal Democrats, Williams was selected to fight the Ceredigion seat in the by-election caused by the resignation of Cynog Dafis. In that by-election the Liberal Democrats rose back into second place, and in the general election of 2001 consolidated that second, and were just 3,944 votes behind Plaid Cymru. In May 2005, 13 years after Geraint Howells had been defeated, the Liberal Democrats regained Ceredigion with Mark Williams as MP by a very narrow majority of 219 votes. Williams is the first non-Welsh-speaking Member of Parliament to represent the constituency since the widening of the electoral franchise in 1867. In 2010, Williams substantially increased his majority, winning just over 50% of the vote; this was the first time any candidate had won more than 50% of the vote in Ceredigion since 1959.
Williams sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee between 2005 and 2017 and held various shadow ministerial roles in the 2005–2010 Parliament.
He called for Saint David's Day to be made a public holiday in Wales.
He proposed a private member's bill with the backing of a leading charity to update child protection legislation. It will amend the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 because it only covers physical harm and does not cover psychological neglect. The bill is backed by Action for Children.
Williams was defeated in the 2017 general election by Ben Lake of Plaid Cymru, whose majority of 104 made the seat one of the most marginal in the country. The result left the Liberal Democrat Party without an MP in Wales, a situation which had not existed since the founding of the Liberal Party in 1859. He resigned as leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats shortly after.
Williams unsuccessful re-contensted Ceredigion in the next general election, following the election he paid tribute to his Plaid Cymru opponent and then subsequently announced he would not stand for parliament again.
Electoral history
Westminister Parliament elections| Date of election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % of votes | Result | |
| 1997 election | Monmouth | Liberal Democrats | 4,689 | 9.6 | Not elected | |
| February 2000 by-election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 5,768 | 23.0 | Not elected | |
| 2001 election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 9,297 | 36.5 | Not elected | |
| 2005 election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 13,130 | 36.5 | Elected | |
| 2010 election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 19,139 | 50.0 | Elected | |
| 2015 election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 13,414 | 35.9 | Elected | |
| 2017 election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 11,519 | 29.0 | Defeated | |
| 2019 election | Ceredigion | Liberal Democrats | 6,975 | 17.4 | Not elected |